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Written by Administrator
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Sunday, 07 February 2010 |
 1st Wellington and 648 Campelos were of course privileged to be a part of the 6000 strong international camp and just in case you haven’t heard these are some of the best bits that our Somerset and fellow Portuguese Scouts got up to...
| 1st Wellington and 648 Campelos were of course privileged to be a part of the 6000 strong international camp and just in case you haven’t heard these are some of the best bits that our Somerset and fellow Portuguese Scouts got up to...
Encapsulating the international theme of WINGS2009 the 1st Wellington scouts continued to develop their relationship with Portugal by inviting 648 Campelos to stay once again.
The dual nationality effort was unique at Wings as we were the only unit to be camping together as two groups.
This is the fourth year 1st Wellington and 648 Campelos have joined forces for an international exchange and the link between the two countries is growing ever stronger.
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| Scout Christine Luz Antunes said: “After all these years a bond has been created and it has grown much stronger so that our friendships are very natural.”
With 29 years leading scouts 1st Wellington GSL Steve Altria added: “The Portuguese have bought a real sense of family to the scout group.” Christine was keen to remind me that the link stems from Kings, Queens and battles fought in the 19th century.
During the historic Peninsular War that took place between 1808 and 1814 in Europe England fought along side the Portugeuse defending their country from the French and Spanish. The Duke of Wellington, who takes his name from our town, lead his Anglo/Portuguese army of 36,000 at the Torres Vedras lines employing some devious military tactics which eventually secured a battle victory for Portugal and the UK.
The towns of Wellington and Torres Vedras are now linked and 1st Wellington Scouts are keeping this alive by maintaining the link between them and the Portugeuse scout unit 648 Campelos from the Torres Vedras district.
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Scout leader Andy Carter was keen to let everyone know where 1st Wellington and 648 Campelos were camped and erected the biggest flag pole on the entire site.
At 12 metres high it easily topped the flag poles in the main arena and indeed anything else with a flag on it.
The flagpole came to represent the truly international nature of 1st Wellington’s efforts at WINGS2009 as the group was joined by some Kenyan Scouts during the course of the week.
Due to a visa issue on the Kenyan border only a few of the scouts made it into the UK.
At first just one Scout came to stay followed by another the following day and by the time the camp had ended there were seven all together receiving generous hospitality from the group.
This international experience for the youngsters will be unforgettable and has only helped to cement the relationship between us and 648 Campelos.
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GSL Jorge Damas said: ““We are all very happy to be here. Together with Wellington the WINGS2009 experience is much easier with the confidence of friends and it feels like the whole world is here as one.” The joint camp was once again a wonderful success with both groups benefiting from and enjoying the friendships that have been made over the last four years. Don’t take it from me though, Young Leader and Explorer Sam Pope said: “It’s been a great exchange of cultures and it’s great to make lasting friendships.” |
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| During their week at WINGS2009 the Scouts performed exceptionally well at most activities and have bought home quite a range of trophies and awards for their efforts.
On Wednesday of the camp the 18 – 25’s campers limbered up for their very own ice Olympics in which seven teams of 20 battled it out for the title of Olympic champions.
Activities ice side included human ten pin bowling, which involved directing a willing volunteer aboard a toboggan towards the pins, a basket ball shoot out and ice hockey to name but a few.
With bonus points awarded for walking on the ice barefoot the joint English and Portuguese Scout team of budding winter Olympiads came first with over 900 points. This run away success was then followed up by a win in the broom ice hockey championship in which the seven teams all competed for the title. At the end of the day the joint 1st Wellington and 648 Campelos team won by 50 points overall.
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With success running in their veins the Scouts went onto become the quickest team, out of the whole camp, to complete the Windsor challenge. The challenge took participants on a mammoth walking tour of the town with a variety of challenges along the way. These included crossing pretend rivers with stepping stones, throwing balls into buckets and identifying interesting features in Windsor itself such as the famous crooked house and blue post box.
Points were added to your time score for wrong answers and incomplete challenges but with a relatively clean record the Scouts came in at 1 hour and 12 minutes on the challenge winning the Windsor Challenge trophy hands down.
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| If that wasn’t enough Scout Sam Shepherd entered into the Wings talent show Wings Factor and not only won the first Sub Camp round but the final as well. Performing Ronan Keeting’s When You Say Nothing At All Sam became an instant hit with fellow Irish campers and many more besides at the Archimedes Sub Camp auditions.
Following his win on day two of the camp Sam went onto perform as part of ten acts, two from each sub camp, in the Wings Factor final and the standard was high amongst contestants. Dancers, singers and camp song performers wowed, humoured and touched the audience throughout the performance making a final decision by the judges very difficult. The crowd was behind him all the way giving the singer a standing ovation even before the chorus.
“It was just a matter of talent” commented the judges that awarded Sam with the Wings Factor trophy.
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Last Updated ( Friday, 12 February 2010 )
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